May 11, 2008

You Need All Your Body Parts

by Rev. Dr. Jim Carlson

1 Corinthians 12:3-13

Opening Illustration –

Ancient world was regimented in terms of one’s place in society.

When Paul began planting churches in Greece and Turkey, he insisted that those societal barriers held no currency in the church.

Many newer Christians weren’t ready to give up that old way of ordering society.

Celebration of the Lord’s Supper was not done in one big group. Rich people gorged themselves while the poor starved.

Church had experiences with the Holy Spirit which caused some to receive giftedness in certain areas. Some experienced a calling to do a particular ministry. Others were entrusted with certain jobs in the church.

Problem: Some people saw their role or gift as a reason to elevate themselves above others. Tongues especially.

Paul wants to convince them that all gifts and ministries are necessary and of equal value. How does he do that?

First – All gifts come from the same source – the Holy Spirit. If they all have God as their source, they all must be equally good.

Second: All gifts and ministries serve the same purpose – to build up the church so that it can be the body of Christ on earth.

Third: The individual people in the church are organs in the body of Christ. One organ cannot decide it doesn’t need another, or that it doesn’t belong to the body.

They are the body of Christ because they ingest the body of Christ when they take communion.

The church today is still the body of Christ. How do we understand ourselves to be Christ’s body?

Before I offer some thoughts on that question, a couple of remarks. First: Why don’t we experience the kinds of spiritual gifts like they did?

Some people say it’s because there’s something wrong with the church.
Movement in 19th and 20th centuries where people started talking in tongues. Claimed God was working in a new way in the church. I find those claims suspect.
I think that’s a question only God can answer. If God was the one who gave people those gifts, then God can if them and take them away according to God’s own plan. I don’t think it shows God is angry with us.

Second remark: Baptists do not believe they are ingesting the body and blood of Christ. It is a symbol of his body and blood.

The same thing can be said about us when we say we’re the body of Christ. We’re a symbol – we point to Jesus by modeling his kingdom on earth to the best of our ability.

What does this passage tell us about being the body of Christ?

First: Every member is important. We need all our body parts in order to be the body of Christ in this community.

We cannot look at a person in this church and say – it would be better if you were not a part of this body.

No one should dishonor him or herself by saying, “My role is so minor, I have so little to contribute. I wish I was like that other person.”

We are the way we are at this moment in history because that’s how God has gifted and ordered us. If this is what God wants us to be, then we should be content with it.

Second: The gifts and calling that we experience in the church are designated for only one purpose – to strengthen our church so that we can be more effective in mission.

We don’t do what we do to make ourselves look good or accomplish some self-serving purpose. If it doesn’t help us to be a more effective church, we shouldn’t be doing it.

Divisions in society do not hold any currency in the church.

US society is less divided than it used to be. People can move from one economic class to another. People can marry people of different a race or religion.

Walls of division still remain. Election results and polls show tremendous divisions based on race, economic class, level of education, region. Slide – Election Map.

In democracy the person with the most votes wins and the person with fewer votes loses.

In the church when one group wins, everyone wins. When someone loses, everyone loses. We’re all connected.

A majority of the organs in your body can’t vote to impose its will over another group of organs in your body.

Similarly, an approach to ministry informed by market capitalism which says, “We’re going to market ourselves so well that everyone will start going to our church and stop going to that other church” ignores what Paul’s saying here.

We are all equal. We are not greater than our Hispanic congregation. We are their brothers and sisters. We are not greater than the CKA church or the Adventists. They are part of our body.

We will not compete with some church down the road. We will try to figure out how to function as part of the same organism. If we don’t do that, in effect, we’re questioning the way in which God has chosen to bring the kingdom of God into our own place and time.

Final Illustration: Words of peace activist and Christian Howard Thurman:

The concern, which I lay before God today, is
My concern for the life of the world in these troubled times.
I confess my own inner confusion as I look out upon the world.
There is food for all - many are hungry.
There are clothes enough for all - many are in rags.
There is room enough for all - many are crowded.
There are none who want war - preparations for conflict abound.

I confess my own share in the ills of the times. I have shirked my own responsibilities as a citizen.
I have not been wise in casting my ballot.
I have left to others a real interest in making A public opinion worthy of democracy.
I have been concerned about my own little job,
My own little security, My own shelter, My own bread.
I have not really cared about jobs for others,
Security for others, Shelter for others, Bread for others.
I have not worked for peace; I want peace,
But I have voted for war and worked for war.
I have silenced my own voice that it may not be heard
On the side of any cause, however right,
If it meant running risks
Or damaging my own little reputation.

Let your light burn in me that I may, from this moment on, take effective steps within my own power, to live up to the light and to courageously pay for the kind of world I so deeply desire."

Each one of your is important. Whether you think you have a gift or not, whether you think God has called you to be part of an important ministry of the church or not, whether you think you’re righteous enough to be here or not, the message today is, “You are vital to who we are. We cannot function without you.”

All the body parts are important. The walls that divide us from each other in our society have no place in the church. When we work together and value one another as fellow creations of God, we build up the church, and bring the kingdom one step closer to reality.